The article below originally appeared in the San Mateo Daily Journal and is being reprinted with permission.
CSM sophomore Aniyah Hall scored 20 kills and six blocks Tuesday as No. 8-seed CSM fell 25-22, 16-25, 27-25, 25-17 to No. 9 Merced in the CCCAA volleyball playoffs. Photo by Terry Bernal/Daily Journal
Kat Suayan wasn’t supposed to be on the volleyball court at College of San Mateo this season.
The true freshman out of Aragon had made the decision to focus on her challenging academic ambitions as a computer science and computer engineering major. When Suayan was approached by a former teammate from Encore Volleyball Club about reconsidering, it didn’t take her long to commit to continuing her volleyball career.
“She thought about it for a second,” said Aniyah Hall, the CSM sophomore who approached Suayan one fateful day in the lounge of CSM’s Building 10. “And she was like: ‘Um, OK.’”
Suayan and Hall each played big roles in returning the Lady Bulldogs to the California Community College Athletic Association Northern California regional volleyball playoffs for the seventh straight year. That postseason run came to an end, however, as No. 8-seed CSM fell 25-22, 16-25, 27-25, 25-17 at home Tuesday night to No. 9 Merced (20-6).
The four-set battle was highlighted by exceptional play by Hall up front. The sophomore middle blocker out of Sequoia scored a team-high 20 kills and added six blocks. Suayan fired four service aces, and played exquisite defense, in a match that featured plenty of prolonged rallies keyed by great, instinctive volleyball on both sides of the net.
“I’m glad it was a battle,” CSM head coach Katie Goldhahn said. “I’m glad that we showed up at times. … I don’t think we put our best volleyball forward and made the right decisions that we needed to in pivotal moments. But we got mentally stronger, I’d say, from our last conference game to this game where there was improvement. But it also shows us as a staff where we can still improve.”
CSM (19-8) dropped its regular-season conference finale to West Valley in a battle for the Coast Conference South championship. The Bulldogs entered the Nov. 8 showdown riding a seven-game winning streak and were tied for first place prior to the lopsided 25-16, 25-18, 25-16 loss.
Regardless, the Bulldogs received a bye through the first round of the playoffs. Tuesday’s loss marks the second straight year CSM has been eliminated in the second round, two wins away from qualifying for the CCCAA state finals.
“We’re like a family,” Hall said. “There girls are my sisters. That’s kind of what we use to push us through. … We have the same goals just to make it to state. We didn’t make it there but that was our motivation all season.”
Freshman libero Kat Suayan was a late add to the CSM volleyball roster this season, but showed up Tuesday to score four aces in the Bulldogs’ playoff elimination loss. Photo by Terry Bernal/Daily Journal.
CSM held leads in each of the four sets, including substantial leads of 20-14 in Game 1, and 20-16 in Game 3. Merced, backed by the two-pronged attack of sophomore outside hitter Gianna Veldhuis and sophomore middle blocker Priscilla Barnett, rallied back to take both sets.
Veldhuis finished with a match-high 21 kills while Barnett added 13.
“I just think their consistency and their relentless play … from a serve receive standpoint, a defensive standpoint, and … offensively,” Goldhahn said of Merced’s strengths. “[Veldhuis], we contained her for a bit, and she came back into the game and just fired from the front row and back row. That’s just a really good volleyball team.”
The big miscues came late in the third set. With the Bulldogs leading 20-17, a CSM attacker slid across the sideline to take a tough shot off her back foot, but had the front of the Merced court exposed. Her attempt found the floor, but not before clipping the antenna for one of CSM’s 20 field errors in the match.
CSM regained the advantage when sophomore middle blocker Iris Grant (Half Moon Bay) tooled the block to score her first kill of the night. But after Veldhuis scored on an advanced roll shot out of the back row to force a side-out, CSM followed with another hitting error on a cross shot toward a wide-open sideline, but sailed wide to close the lead to 21-20.
Merced then tied it 22-22 when CSM misfired long. The set went into extra-points, with the Blue Devils earning three set points before Veldhuis blasted a kill off the left side to claim the pivotal Game 3 victory.
“We had two big moments in two sets that we should have capitalized and handled the game, and handled our side of the net,” Goldhahn said, “and we just kind of let that go. And I think that was kind of dictating to the entire match.”
CSM’s best run came in Game 2 with Suayan at the service line.
“I think tonight was her best serving night,” Goldhahn said. “I think she was just firing on all cylinders tonight.”
With the Bulldogs trailing 4-2 early, the freshman libero sparked an 8-0 run that included three service aces.
“I just think that this was a very special game,” Suayan said. “We had a bye and so we had a lot of time to work on our serving. … I think I was just on a roll today for some reason. I felt it. I felt a little bit more confident in my game, and I was ready to be out there.”
Barnett’s six-rotation play, however, was a game-changer for Merced, particularly in the closing set. It isn’t common to see a 6-2 middle play all the way around, but, at times, both Merced and CSM had their big middles in the back row. Hall, who also serves, patrolled four rotations for the Bulldogs.
“She did good,” Hall said. “I think she plays all the way around. So, I thought that was pretty cool because I’ve never seen that.”
CSM seemed to have an answer early in sophomore outside hitter Olivia Cooper, who finished with 12 kills and a block, and showcased consistent range on defense. But a 12-12 tie in Game 4 came undone with Veldhuis and freshman Felicity Parker leading Merced on a 5-1 run. The Blue Devils would never trail again.
Hall earns All-American honors
While CSM finished in second place in the Coast South, they still had the conference’s Most Valuable Player in Hall. She was also named to the All-State first-team, and earned second-team All-American honors. The last CSM volleyball player to be named an All-American was Naomie Cremoux, who earned third-team honors as a sophomore in 2022.
“She was amazing,” Suayan said of Hall’s performance Tuesday. “I think pretty much every time she swung at the ball, I think it was a kill. … I’m just so proud of her. She is a really amazing athlete. So, I feel really lucky to play with someone like her. She’s really strong.”
